Without a partner, after CO/UA hook up, US may not be long for this world. The union wage deal if US merges make it a better candidate to be dismantled and pieced out to the remaining 3 than merged with an otherwise healthy (relatively) AA.

The industry as a whole is losing money and must change drastically. How can contraction and mergers be nixed by DOJ if there is currently too much competition for anyone to make money? The landscape has changed drastically since 1999 when DOJ would not allow UA/US to merge.